Mizoram seems headed towards a hung assembly with the main opposition Congress not in a position to capitalise on the anti-incumbency wave against the MNF.
According to UNI, the Congress is not seen as well-prepared or possessing the strength to gain from the anti-incumbency wave sweeping the state against the Zoramthanga-led Mizo National Front that has been in office since a decade.
The MNF, which grabbed power in 1998 and 2003, faces an uphill task this year and the revolution in the print and electronic media in the remote Northeast state has only added fuel to the anti-incumbency fire, a fact that even Chief Minister Zoramthanga has admitted. ‘’ The print and electronic media are full of anti-MNF jibes which have made me sick of reading newspapers and watching local TV news,’’ Mr Zoramthanga said at his party’s general conference here on October 30.
The main contestants in the election fray will be the ruling Mizo National Front, the Indian National Congress and the Mizoram People’s Conference-Zoram Nationalist Party coalition under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), which includes a non-political organisation called Zoram Kuthnathawktu Pawl. According to political analysts, the UDA and the Congress have equal chances of gaining from the anti-incumbency factor but will fall short of the magic number of 22 in the 40-member House.
Amid speculation of a hung Assembly, the ruling MNF and the Congress are playing coalition politics by tying-up with smaller parties for the December two polls.
The MNF, while continuing its ties with the Mizoram Congress Party (MCP), has forged an alliance with the Mara Democratic Front (MDF), the Hmingdailova-led Hmar People’s Convention (HPC) and the newly floated Reformed Mizo People’s Conference. The Congress has also tied up with the Malsawma Darngawn-led Hmar People’s Convention and several other apolitical organisations.
Other players include the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is yet to gain a foothold in this pre-dominant Christian state, the Nationalist Congress Party, Lok Bharati, Lok Janshakti Party and a surprising number of independent candidates 12.